We're No Good
by Wraithebringer
Summary: When Skye's feelings throw her into a depression and her new powers put Coulson out of his depth, leaving her feeling more alienated than ever... Coulson calls in a team to try and help her rebuild herself into who she once was.
1. Chapter 1

Coulson just didn't know what he could do. He'd tried probing her with tasks, ones that would appeal to her interests and talents: working on the firewalls, hacking into FBI, CIA, and Hydra servers... nothing drew her interest anymore. Grant Ward, for all of his troubles, had managed to break the fiercest spirit on the plane, the one that Coulson believed could never be broken.

And now? Now that she had these powers that they couldn't control? Now that she had Tripp's death weighing on her mind? There was only one option left, the last resort. He sighed, picking up his phone and dialing the familiar number, waiting as it rang before the silky-smooth voice came through the phone. "Romanov." Coulson shook his head. "I know it's been a while..." There was silence on the other end of the phone for a couple of seconds, hesitation in her voice.

"Phil?" There wasn't a tone of surprise, at least not to the extent there probably should have been. She knew, of course she knew. She had been on of SHIELD's best spies. She'd been there to take down SHIELD from a computer that had access to the TAHITI project... and that meant Clint knew as well. "So you finally decided to reach out? Took you long enough."

She didn't need to see Coulson to know that he was smirking. "Yeah, well, it was for the best... but now I have an 0-8-4 I'm not equipped to deal with. I was hoping you and the gang could help me out." She could hear the pain and tension in his voice. Whatever it was, it bothered him... why was the question that hung on her lips. She glanced at Clint, who had stopped his shooting once he'd heard the name of his old handler. She was signing Phil's side of the conversation to him to keep him updated.

"What's the object?" She asked cautiously.

"It's not an object... it's a person. One of my team... she's a brilliant hacker and not too shabby in the field, but during a mission she got caught in a bad situation... it changed her, and we aren't equipped to handle her newfound powers." He figured a team that held the hulk was probably better suited for the destructive nature of her new abilities.

"I'll have to tell the rest of the team you're alive... some might not take it too well." She cautioned him, Clint signing back to her that they had to help. This was, after all, Coulson. He wouldn't ask unless it was important. Natasha nodded.

"I'll bring it up to Cap and Stark, calm them down a bit... and then I'll tell you when to bring her by." Natasha was confident that Cap's moral compass would lead him to accept the case, regardless of what he might have to think about Coulson keeping his alive status secret. She hung up without another word, and Coulson knew it was nothing personal. She and Clint were spies, and they knew him well enough to know that if he'd kept the fake nature of his death a secret, it was for a damn good reason.

Natasha sighed, walking through the halls of the Tower, heading towards the movie theatre where she knew Steve was trying to catch up on his pop culture references, Clint following behind as a shadow. He wanted to hear how this conversation turned out as well. He turned his hearing aids up, watching form the doorframe as she plopped down next to Steve on the couch.

"So Cap... I've got a confession to make." He paused the movie, looking at her with a look of confusion, waiting for her to elaborate.

"When we took down SHIELD... released secrets... I found one that I kept from you and the rest of the team." Steve's brow furrowed.

"Explain, please." Despite the politeness in his tone, there was something hard and dark behind it.

"It's about Coulson... when SHIELD went down I found a file on a project called TAHITI. It was a SHIELD project that uses alien DNA to bring people back from the dead... and Phil was one of the participants... he's alive, and he needs our help." She explained a very brief synopsis of what the story, leaving out some of the gory details she'd looked into after things had settled down after DC.

The news, to say the least, was shocking. Steve remained quiet for more than one minute, processing the information. Natasha and Clint watched the different emotions pass through his face: confusion, anger, frustration, defiance, denial... and finally a sense of relief and happiness knowing it was one less life that had to weigh on his conscious. Natasha waited patiently.

"Why didn't he tell us he's alive?" He demanded quickly, a question which Natasha had anticipated.

"He wasn't allowed to. Fury had him running a ghost unit, and the less people who knew he was alive, the better." She was quick to respond, standing up. "But he needs our help now... and it's big... and we need to talk to Stark about it." That was going to be a more daunting task. He wasn't as rational or understanding as the captain, and he'd be upset, especially with how hard Pepper had taken Coulson's death after the Battle of New York.

"What does he need?" Steve inquired as he rose, figuring Natasha could fill him in on the way.

"One of his team... she was exposed to something on a mission. I don't have the full details, but she's developed powers, and his team isn't equipped to handle them. He wanted to know if we could help her learn to control them, maybe train her up a bit. She's a hacker, and she does some decent field work, but with Coulson trying to rebuild SHIELD with limited funds, he doesn't have the means to support and train her in a field he himself isn't experienced with. He promised full details if he could bring her here for some training." She responded as they walked, arriving at the elevator just in time to finish up. Steve simply nodded.

"JARVIS, take us to Tony's lab please."

It was, after all, Tony's tower. It was Tony's money that funded the Avengers, and those that they agreed to help...

They braced themselves for the emotional range of Tony Stark, who was not particularly fond of secrets. They stepped off the elevator, Clint staying behind to return to the shooting range. Natasha stood there, her hands folded behind her back, shoulders squared as Cap stood beside her, Tony glancing up a few moments after they had stopped.

"JARVIS said you needed to talk to me? What could be so busy that you interrupt my work?" He asked as he wiped some of the grease off his hands, glaring between the two of them. There was one rule in the Tower: you never interrupted Tony and Bruce while they were working in their labs, but he figured this would be an exception.

"Coulson's alive... and he needs our help." Natasha said, knowing the full story wasn't the best way to get things through the Stark. She'd learned about his ability to cope with things during her time undercover in Stark Industries. He seemed confused, then angry.

"Coulson's alive and he didn't bother to tell us until NOW?" He demanded, setting down his prototype on the table. "And he has the nerve to tell us by asking us for HELP?" Natasha didn't even flinch as he approached, rolling her eyes. "It's a complicated story, but yes, he's alive, and he needs our help. He wouldn't ask if it weren't important."

Despite his anger, the words struck a chord, as well as his interest. "And what is so _important_ that a ghost had to beg and plead for our help."

It was the good Captain's turn now. "He has a girl on his team, brilliant hacker who I hear can go toe-to-toe with you... she's developed some powers... he called us because we have a little more experience with powered individuals than him, and he's out of his depth." He responded, adding a line about a brilliant hacker to challenge Tony to interest him even more. He knew he was a hacker, but he didn't know if she was that good. It was enough to get her in the door at least.

Sure enough, Tony took the bait. He huffed, glancing between the two of them with narrowed eyes. "Fine... have him bring her here... I can't work on a floor for her until I know the dangers of her powers, nor any specific training equipment." Natasha smiled as she turned, and Cap raised an eyebrow at him. "I know you're mad at Coulson, but he really did have a good reason to keep it a secret." He offered before turning to follow Natasha, who was already back on the phone with her old handler.

"We're in. Bring her to the tower, and we'll figure everything else out... and Coulson? It's damn good to hear your voice again." She offered before the call dropped from being in the elevator.

It was perhaps an hour, maybe two before Natasha had called back... sooner than he'd expected. He expected the team to put up more of a fight after learning he'd kept his secret from them for so long. It'd been years, and he hadn't even reached out after the fall of SHIELD... but then again, it'd been Natasha who'd done the convincing, and she could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.

He'd been sitting next to May when he got the call, and he nodded to her as she started to turn the plane towards New York. The sooner they got Skye the help she needed, the better equipped she'd be, the safer she'd be, and the safer the rest of the team would be. Some of their members were already on edge from how unpredictable she and her abilities had been.

The Avengers could help... he had to believe they could, because he knew that as badly as he wanted to, he couldn't.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I don't do Author's Notes a lot, but I do want to say thank you for the support. Going into this fanfiction, I was unsure how people were going to take the first chapter as a lot of it was setup and not my best work, and even this one I worry about a little, as it is a little darker in nature. Despite being a strong character, Skye has issues. I find it hard to believe after everything she's been through (throughout her entire life) that she doesn't have issues and that's why I'm reflecting her the way I am. I love tackling the psyches of the characters I focus on in my fanfics which means my chapte so please review, let me know what you like and don't like~**

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It stung, the pain in her arms a dull ache compared to the hollowness in her chest, the light that had long since left her eyes. They'd had to keep her in quarantine because it was the only place on the plane where she couldn't accidentally bring the plane out of the sky. It'd been reinforced for other powered individuals they'd cared... but that wasn't what she was. She wasn't just some human with powers... she was a freak, her DNA was _different_ from a human's, according to Jemma who'd previously been on a _warpath_ about inhumans... her best friend, thinking she was a plague that needed to be wiped out.

The worst part was she didn't care anymore. Why did it matter what anyone thought of her if she didn't care what she thought of herself? Her fingers worked through the sleeves of her long sleeve shirt, playing with the edges of the cuff as she bit on her bottom lip, working it through her teeth as she waited to hear her fate. Would they be humane, convince her that she was still a part of a team only to try and control her? She imagined Coulson would try... he'd always been a father figure to her, protected her even when times had gotten hard, saved her from death more than once.

How many times did she need to screw up before he got the picture and cast her out like foster home after foster home? Even when signing up with SHIELD, she knew it would inevitably be temporary. She was bad; she attracted bad people into her life... the team was safer without her... and yet Coulson still fought for her, insisted she wasn't the most broken person he'd ever picked up again, confidence he could help her get out of a bad situation.

All she'd done was brought the bad situations to them.

She'd noticed the movement out of the corner of her eye, the sound of shoes hitting the floor slightly heavier than May's light steps, not heavy enough to be Fitz or Simmons who had no sense of poise or grace when it came to the trainings of a field agent. It was Coulson. She didn't react, staring off into space until he was standing right in front of her. He'd broken the quarantine to let himself in, she'd noted.

Here he was, still trying to save the freak in the van.

Coulson sighed, sitting down on the bed next to her. "Skye, we're going to get you help... and you'll learn to control these powers." He promised, a soft frown finding his features. It was never good when she was this lost in thought. She withdrew herself, knowing if she was to get too close, she might hurt him on accident. The fact that he had entered quarantine put him at risk, so she was already trying to minimalize the fallout. What was the _point_ of the quarantine cell if he was going to come in anyway?

He sighed, standing back up. "I made contact with a team... they're trained in this sort of thing." He started to explain as he looked at her, waiting for her to make eye contact. She looked up at him, a certain glaze over her eyes that showed she was listening, but she wasn't necessarily attentive. "They've agreed to meet with you, with us, to see if they can help." He wanted to tell her who they were, but not yet. The fact was, this cell was untested against her powers, and he was still inside. Even if he weren't inside, they'd never had held an individual with her abilities in quarantine... she could bring the plane out of the sky if she'd gotten excited. He knew she loved the Avengers, even admitted to cosplaying as one of them when she was younger.

Skye just shrugged, not saying a word as she watched Coulson leave the room. Wasn't it _her_ team that had been acting as the welcoming committee before the fall of SHIELD? _Her team_ that was supposed to help people understand their powers?

She supposed it all had changed, somewhere, sometime... she just wished it could go back to, that Ward hadn't betrayed them, that SHIELD hadn't fallen... or better yet, that she'd never even joined. The moment she had, the very organization had started to crumble.

Everything she touched was destroyed... how fitting.

May's voice came over the communication systems, telling them all to prepare for landing. They were already there? They'd already reached this _mystery team_? She put her earbuds back in. Simmons had managed to make her a phone case that was resistant to her powers, and a set of reinforced earbuds, complements of Fitz... music had become the only thing that could keep the bad thoughts away, and even this was... _experimental._.. at best.

Once they had touched down, Coulson opened quarantine. "I had May pack your back... figured you probably didn't want me going through your drawers." He said, holding up the large duffel that held most of her contents. She nodded absentmindedly. It stung... there was nothing he could do to put a smile on her face anymore... he hoped that meeting and working with her childhood heroes might change that.

If not, Barton and Romanova had a way of bringing people out of their shells, of their darkest time, and turning them into something truly beautiful... a pretty odd thing to think about two assassins, though he supposed they'd put that life behind them.

"This isn't permanent Skye... they can help." He insisted as they walked.

"I know, DC." She said, her voice cracking. It'd been a while since she'd actually _spoken_. She did appreciate the effort, appreciated him treating her like she was something other than what she actually was... and she knew he'd always be there for her, it was just difficult to feel any form of relief when she could easily, and accidentally, cause his _actual_ death at any time.

Needless to say, she was quite surprised when she reached the ramp. They were in New York... in front of her stood five of the six original Avengers... Fitz and Simmons were talking to Stark and Banner, no doubt filling them in on her level of freakishness while May was talking to Barton and Romanova. Rogers was standing there expectantly, and Coulson headed towards him, Skye following behind him like a small child. She let the faintest smile creep across her face... the excitement of the situation too large for her to remain stoic or gloomy.

Coulson put out his hand and Steve shook it. "Good to see you breathing, Agent Coulson." He offered diplomatically, a soft line in his features. It was clear he was still struggling to grasp the concept of alien DNA bringing Coulson back to life... Steve was used to people coming back to life at this point: Loki, Coulson, Bucky... it was just an adjustment each time, and he'd found out less than a day ago.

"And you must be Skye." He offered out a hand, which she quickly took, the smile growing a little larger on her face despite her best efforts to keep it down.

"I appreciate your willingness to help." Using the word 'offer' hadn't quite felt right to her. They hadn't offered, they'd been asked. They'd agreed, been willing to help. Steve let a friendly smile on his face.

"It's what we do." He waved Tony over, who had since finished talking to Fitz about Skye's powers.

"So Rumbles, I hear you aren't too bad with a computer!" He smirked at her, cracking his knuckles. "You. Me. Hydra servers." The offer almost sounded like an innuendo, but everyone knew that Tony and Pepper were exclusive, and that he had put the playboy life behind him.

She cringed slightly at the nickname he'd given her but recovered fast. "You're on, Stark." How could she say no? She was good, but she didn't know if she was Tony Stark good. They'd just have to find out the old fashioned way.

Banner was quick to join them. He was different than she would have expected; she expected him to be more confident, after all he could turn into the Hulk and destroy half a city if he wanted to. However, she realized that might be exactly _why_ he was perhaps more timid than she would have expected: he could turn into the Hulk and level half a city if he wanted to.

"It's nice to meet you Skye. Simmons was telling me your arms fracture when you use your powers?" He asked, and Skye felt suddenly self-conscious, a shy nod with a frown on her features. She couldn't even have superpowers without screwing up! The others didn't break bones when they used their abilities. "I need to do some scans of your arms while you're using your powers, but Tony and I think we can minimize if not erase the damage completely."

That surprised Skye, but maybe it shouldn't have... these were the Avengers. Besides that, these were some of the brightest minds in the world. She offered a shy smile. "That would be great... I just... I don't really know how to _use_ my powers... they just kind of... _happen_..." She trailed off, looking at the ground. Tony glanced at Phil with a raised eyebrow. This had not been mentioned to him... difficulties to control were one thing, but having powers occur at random times were another.

Coulson was lucky he was always up for a challenge.

"It just so happens we're good at what we do, Skye. We'll help you figure it out." He promised before looking at Coulson. "We can take it from here." There was a certain snap in his voice that made Skye internally cringe. Stark clearly had not taken Coulson's secret as well as the rest of the team had. Coulson glanced up at May, who turned to look at him before nodding. She offered Romanova a hug before returning to the jet. Skye tilted her head to the side.

She had always mentioned Barton and Romanova's antics while at SHIELD, but she hadn't been aware that she had been close enough to the assassin to be permitted to _hug_ her.

"Come, malen'kaiya." She said, offering a hand out to rest on Skye's upper back, guiding her into the tower. "Let's get you settled in, then we can talk for a bit." A cold chilling sensation shot down her spine. Just what had May said to the Russian assassin? What was there to talk about?

Skye turned to see the plane taking off, flying away until it was out of sight.

Skye felt so alone, and the familiar feeling of abandonment flooded over her. She knew this wasn't forever, and that she would see _her_ team again... but she couldn't help but feel left behind by the people she needed most.

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**A/N I do speak Russian, and the translations for Natasha's and Clint's (and Steve's) Russian will often be simple phrases or pet names like "little one" used in this chapter and will be written as pronounced rather than in Cyrillic. Knowing Strike Team Delta, there will also be swears. I'm hoping to update every couple days, but the next couple chapters might have to wait until after finals.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Sorry for the delay! I got my ass kicked by finals and then started a spring course, plus have worked 10 hour shifts (at the dreaded Taco Bell) for the past 14 days so I've been dead to the world. I'm hoping to get updates up at least once a week from now on.**

She felt uneasy amongst the current company, her eyes shifting between the various heroes as they showed her around the tower. Natasha and Clint seemed the most attentive, most interested... she figured this was either because they had known Coulson was alive the longest, or they were intrigued in her because she was a member of Coulson's team despite no formal training of any kind. Either way, she shifted uncomfortably under the attentive gaze of the Russian whose ledger was stacked with a body count high enough to make anyone nervous. She knew that the woman had turned it around... it was just that old habits die hard and Skye had never been the most trusting person.

Tony, on the other hand, seemed to be more interested in her computer skills than the fact that she could accidentally crumble this building at any second with no way to control it. Steve seemed polite, but it was clear he was unsure what to make of her and felt uneasy about her presence in turn. On one hand, she needed their help, but on the other hand, there _was_ no control of her powers and that was enough to make anyone worry. Bruce seemed to be analyzing her, noting her discomfort better than the rest. He pinpointed the caught, perhaps because he was a giant green rage monster who could also bring down the building.

"Don't worry Skye, Tony built this building to accommodate the Hulk... if you use your powers here, the building won't even shake." He offered before making his exit – he had to head back to his lab in order to start running some workups given the blood samples Simmons had handed off to him. The sooner he understood her, the sooner he could help her.

Tony then turned, because how could he _not_ make a remark about his own damn building. "Don't worry about the building, Resound, a 9.0 earthquake couldn't take this building down, even if it were right in the epicenter. Everyone here is safe. I've also had Pepper use reinforced furniture when she set up your apartment which should absorb your powers as you use them, should there be any accidents." He offered as Pepper joined them.

Coulson had told him about her nightmares, then... did they all know?

"Hi Skye, it's nice to meet you." She offered a hand, and was perhaps the only other one, besides Captain Rodgers, to do so. She took it, uncertain still as she sized up the intellectual powerhouse that stood before her, who had taken over Tony's company without a degree. Yes, she very much liked Pepper Potts. She'd remained silent, hadn't said anything yet, but now seemed as good a time as any. "It's nice to meet you too, Ms. Potts." Being formal felt _necessary_. This wasn't her team; her team was miles away by now, on a jet and safe from her and her destructive abilities.

"None of that Ms. Potts business. I'm Pepper." She said with a smile. Skye just nodded indifferently. They were trying to make her feel welcomed, but there was this unusual tension in the air, like they were all sizing her up in different ways. It made her feel like some kind of animal that was about to be tested on. Natasha was looking at her for risk analysis, something that had been common for her back at SHIELD while her partner was looking at her in terms of training – physical training such as a sparring, maybe weapons use. Stark was trying to size her up, figuring out how much of a threat she'd be to their tech if she were to turn on them. Cap was trying to size up her will, her drive, and more importantly what drives her. Bruce had since departed, but she could tell he'd been worried about her lack of control when it had come to her abilities. Thor wasn't present because he was on Asgard.

She felt safest in that moment with Pepper, whose eyes were kind, not analytical. Pepper seemed to be the only one looking at her like a person rather than something to poke and prod with needles or beat to a pulp to figure her out. Pepper picked up on this. "I'll show you to your floor; the others have some Avengers business to attend to." She quickly interrupted their gazes, no one questioning her authority as they nodded. Tony started to head to his lab. "Just have JARVIS let me know when you're settled in, Skye, and I'll put you and your hacking skills to some good use." He called out nonchalantly. Natasha and Clint exchanged gazes that seemed to carry an entire conversation with them.

"For the world's mightiest heroes, they need to work on their social skills." Pepper said to break the ice as she motioned towards the elevator. "They're not normally like this; the tower was buzzing once they had all found out you were coming." She assured; the motion made Skye scoff. She highly doubted it.

"No, really. Natasha, Clint and I had already known Coulson was alive... the rest found out today, but once they got over his secret, they were more than happy to take you on. You might not have the cleanest of backstories from what Phil told us, but none of them do." Bless Pepper's heart, she was trying to make Skye feel better... but it didn't, not really.

"I could bring this entire tower down on us on accident... I don't care what Tony said... these... this... _thing_... it's stronger than any earthquake." She didn't want to cause death or destruction, not even against her enemies... perhaps only against Ward she'd like to use her powers.

"And they can help you, I promise. They helped Banner control the Hulk, they can help you too." It helped that she was consciously aware of what was going on while her powers were activated, unlike the green rage monster that Doctor Banner transformed into when he got angry. One time, before they'd helped him with his control, Thor had eaten the last poptart and the Hulk had lost it, ripping Banner out of the driver seat of his own body to show the god of thunder what he thought of the last smores poptart being gone.

Skye nodded shyly, though she remained silent. Pepper let out a soft sigh. "We've stocked your closet. Coulson mentioned you didn't have much, but we were able to get your sizes from Doctor Simmons." She offered helpfully, Skye scratching at her arm.

"That really wasn't necessary..." She started before Pepper shook her head.

"It's Tony's way of trying to welcome you to the tower, and hopefully after some training, the team." She explained as the elevator came to a halt. "Each person has half a floor, with a common area shared between two people as well as private kitchens in case you're not feeling social. Tony and I share a floor with Bruce, Clint and Natasha share a floor... so you're with Steve. Thor doesn't usually hold a residence here, but when he does, we put him on the top floor so he doesn't need to go far for a quick exit to Asgard." She explained quickly as she stepped off, Skye following closely behind.

"I'm sharing a floor with the Capsicle?" She asked, the nickname sticking after she'd remembered AC's stories of Tony and his ridiculous nicknames. "And he's okay with that?" He was, after all, raised in the 40s.

"He said it was fine... if you're uncomfortable though, I'm sure I could switch you with Barton. He might not be the most thrilled with it, but he'd understand." She offered but Skye shook her head, mumbling about it being fine. It would be fine, right?

"Besides, you _both_ have private areas. If you are uncomfortable, you only have to see him when going to the elevator and vice versa." Pepper reasoned with her, and Skye felt some of her anxieties lift. She nodded with a shy smile before making her way into her room, Pepper showing her the passcode to get in and explaining that she also needed to scan her hand on the pad next to the door. Tony was nothing if not flashy with his security measures. She didn't bother to look around, simply went and crawled straight into bed, which caused Pepper to frown. "If you need anything, just ask JARVIS and he'll let us know. Dinner is at 6." She offered before respectuflly backing out.

They had their work cut out for them.


End file.
